As we start to plan our next trip I found myself immersed in travel books and searching the web for inspiration.

I love travel books, travel programs and just surfing the web about travel. I am watching Michael Portello’s train journeys at the moment. Even Escape to The Country and Escape to the Continent have provided useful travel trips. Travel books are fun, but more recently I have found that they are more useful to people planning their trips than to us!

So I thought I’d mention how we have used blogs and forums and some of the sources we have relied upon for inspiration and valuable information in our travel.

I found out about rail travel from the man in seat 61. Relying on Mark Smith’s advice I have graduated from having the travel agent book my train travel to being completely comfortable travelling through Europe, reading timetables and making my own bookings. Sure I have missed trains and misread timetables but that has led to some pretty amazing experiences like an unforgettable Bastille weekend in Paris when we should have been on the train to the Amalfi Coast!

As we plan our trips I type a country or place into the search engine and see what I can find.  Continue reading →